Rui Machida participating in the Japan Women’s National Team training camp[Photo]= Basketball King
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On May 7th, the first training camp for the Japanese women’s basketball team for the Paris 2024 Olympics was revealed.
Among them, Rui Machida of Fujitsu Red Wave was the one who attracted the most attention. She was working out in four groups that day, but when Machida started dribbling on the court in preparation for her workout, the TVs and still cameras all moved in unison, watching her every move. The pitch was captured on video and in images.
Machida made a major contribution to winning the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago. He set a new Olympic record with 18 assists in one game, but since the Tokyo Olympics, he has not played in any FIBA-sponsored games with the Japanese national team due to participation in the WNBA and injury. At the FIBA Women’s Olympic World Final Qualifiers (OQT) held in February of this year, she was selected as a candidate for Japan’s national team for the tournament, but the sprained foot she sustained at the Empress’s Cup in mid-December affected her performance. , go to adjustment in a separate menu. In the end, she did not make it to the OQT. Therefore, it has been a long time since we have seen her playing to her heart’s content wearing the Japan national team’s uniform, so it is only natural that the camera will follow her.
After the second day of training camp, Machida spoke about the first training camp, saying, “I’m very nervous, but first of all, I’m thinking about getting my condition right so I don’t get injured.” Furthermore, the reason for his nervousness was, “I’m nervous in this gymnasium itself…I’m nervous because of the atmosphere and the fact that there are so many different (team) players.Also, I’m slower than everyone else, so I’m nervous.” I’m also nervous about trying to catch up with everyone as quickly as possible, including things like understanding.”
Rui Machida talks about her thoughts on the Paris Olympics[Photo]= Basketball King
Machida says he has strong feelings for this summer’s festival in Paris, but immediately after the Tokyo Olympics, he says, “I wasn’t thinking about Paris.” Still, after the Tokyo Olympics, when I played in the WNBA as a member of the Washington Mystics, I played against players from the U.S. national team and received comments from my teammates like, “Why aren’t you going to the national team (training camp, etc.)?” and “Let’s play against each other again.” “I thought that I would be able to compete in a different way, and I started to feel like I wanted to take on the challenge and compete in Paris,” he said.
“First of all, don’t get injured. Over the past few years, I’ve lost opportunities by not being able to play on the national team due to injuries, so I thought it would be good if I could get in good condition and stay injury-free. “Machida naturally talks a lot about injuries.”
“The main focus of this training camp is to improve my conditioning, and on top of that, it’s a period where I use my head to check things out and understand Onzuka-san’s basketball, so I want to make the most of this training camp. I want to improve my condition and use my brain to understand things, so I can move into the next training camp smoothly,” Machida said. Regarding his condition, he said calmly, “I hope I can improve my condition gradually, rather than all at once.”
The Mitsui Fudosan Cup 2024 Hokkaido Tournament is scheduled for June in Hokkaido, where he was born and raised. What’s more, the event will be held in Sapporo, where Machida spent his high school days (the venue will be Hokkai Kitael).
“It’s an honor and a great pleasure to have a match in Hokkaido.It’s my first time playing in Hokkaido for the national team, and for the fans in Hokkaido, it’s rare for the national team to play in Hokkaido, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to that as well,” he said with a smile.
It has been about three weeks since the jubilant playoff final where he won his first W League title. Japan’s proud command tower switches to Japan representative mode and aims for Paris.
Text = Sanae Tajima